Need Help Locating Birth City

[kristapatr]

Hello,

Trying to find the birth city of my great grandfather so I can locate his birth certificate. I truly have gone through as many sources (censuses, marriage/death certificates, draft cards, newspaper articles) as I can, also including looking through his spouse's, children's, sibling's documents. No luck, as every document only lists Italy so I am stuck. Good news is that I was able to track down my great grandmother's birthplace and birth certificate so at least that was a big win!

Can someone point me in the right direction to keep researching this? I will provide information on him and his wife below.

Many thanks in advance!

Paternal Great Grandfather
Nicola/Nicholas Bressi
Birth: November 25, 1883
Italy
Death: August 12, 1943
Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States
Arrived: 1902 (1930 census), 1892 (1910 census)
Marriage: 1909

1910 Census = Naturalization Status - Alien
1930 Census = Naturalization - First Papers
1940 Census = Citizenship – Alien

Home in US: Shamokin, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA


Paternal Great Grandmother
Marianna Bressi (Rovito)
Birth: February 2, 1894
Isca sullo Ionio, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy
Death: September 11, 1968
Shamokin, Coal Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, USA
Arrived: August 11, 1906, König Albert (?)
Marriage: 1909

1930 Census = Naturalization - Alien
1940 Census = Citizenship - Alien
1950 Census = Citizenship – Yes

Home in US: Shamokin, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA

Home in 1930 Shamokin, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, USA

[EMTLP]

Was hoping to find a ship manifest for your great grandfather. Not many entries spelled Bressi.
Found this:
Bressi Surname Meaning
Italian:: variant of Bresci itself a variant of Brescia . habitational name from Bresso in Milan province showing the same regularization of form characteristic of northern Italy.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022

These are search results for https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB/ellisgold.html
Entered Nic for first name and Bres for last name arrival range 1883-1910

Name, Residence, age, year of birth, arrival date

Bresci, Nicola Catanzaro 20 1883-1884 1904
Bresci, Nicola Catanzaro 20 1883-1884 1904
Brescia, Nicola Bilotto, Italy 60 1845-1846 1906
Brescia, Nicola Rionero, Potenza 2 1903-1904 1906
Brescia, Nicola Italy 27 1881-1882 1909
Brescia, Nicola Giovanni Monopoli 21 1884-1885 1906
Brescia, Nicolantonio S Costantino 21 1875-1876 1897
Brescia, Nicolino S. Castantino 11 1892-1893 1904
Bresfi, Nicolo Biace 23 1869-1870 1893
Bresi, Nicola Guardiavalle 17 1888-1889 1906


I found a WW Draft Card for Nick Bressi Shamokin PA DOB is 6 Nov 1883. Looks like your guy.

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 95813:1002

If you click on the next card to the right the link is https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 95813:1002 there is a Pietro Bressi born in Philadelphia b. Badolato
Could this be a relative to your Nicola? Notice that the 3rd entry on the arrivals above is Bilotto/Badolato???

Unfortunately I don't see any records for 1883 births at
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/search- ... adolato%22

Do you know any of your great grandfathers siblings? That might take you to the same place of birth?

[qualdom]

Bressi is a surname common to Isca Sullo Ionio. All of those towns in Northumberland County PA are full of people descended from Italians who came from that comune starting in the 1890s. Considering that his wife was from Isca, it increases the likelihood.

The birth records for Isca from 1883 are on Familysearch....you can look through them.

[mmogno]

Birth of Marianna Rovito
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=744559

Manifest, line #20 Marianna Rovito
https://assets-heritage.statueofliberty ... 530077.jpg

[kristapatr]

Thank you so much for the info and ideas, and apologies on the late response. I am literally buried in documents.

So, my bad. I did not mention that I already had Isca Sullo Ionio checked for Nicola Bressi's birth certificate. Not there for sure.

The WW2 draft card is him. We know he lived most of his life in the US in Shamokin, Coal Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, at least 1908 forward after his marriage. What I do have for him is marriage certificate, death certificate, obituaries, grave, censuses, draft cards, and Sons of Italy in America docs. The birth certificate and arrival records are the pieces I cannot find. The arrival had to be between 1883 and 1908 - birth and his marriage in the US. The censuses show 1892, and 1902 as arrival dates. I do not know if links work here, but the one below is to all the info I have on him.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bvb4o1dz ... iawyp&dl=0


On siblings, I have only found one mention of a sister Theresa in Italy in his obituary.

Kids ... he had a lot. Yolanda is my paternal grandmother.

1 Edith
2 Clara
3 Helen
4 Louise
5 Yolanda
6 Elizabeth
7 Frank
8 William
9 Catherine
10 Marlin
11 Albert

I will go through the search results at https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB/ellisgold.html and circle back.

Thank you again everyone!